Behind the Scenes on How Big Tobacco Works to Block Federal Rules on E-Cigarettes

The New York Times has an excellent article about the tobacco industry’s efforts to block the FDA’s tepid efforts to regulate e-cigarettes shows that the pro-e-cigarette effort is now dominated by big tobacco companies.  The cigarette companies clearly see e-cigarettes as part of their integrated business model, not as a competing technology that will drive them out of the highly profitable cigarette business. 
 
While there is a lot of interesting material in the article about the industry’s lobbying and the fact that the bill in Congress to hobble the FDA was written by Philip Morris and that former Senator Mary Landrieu “forgot” to register as a lobbyist for Big Tobacco, the most incisive bit of information for me is the fact that an industry lobbyist was working inside the Obama White House Office of Management and Budget, which has consistently held back and watered down FDA’s efforts.
 
The Times reported,

Another critical assist came from Andrew Perraut, who until 2014 served as a desk officer at the Office of Management and Budget division that reviews major federal regulations, including the F.D.A.’s tobacco rule. White House records show that he helped represent the Obama administration at more than a dozen meetings with outside parties, mostly pressing the government to ease the rule, before he was hired by a cigar-industry trade organization and by NJoy, a manufacturer of e-cigarettes.
Within less than a year, records show, Mr. Perraut was back at the Office of Management and Budget on the other side of the table.
Because Mr. Perraut was not a senior official and the regulation affects numerous industry players, federal revolving door rules did not apply, an agency spokeswoman said. Mr. Perraut said he was simply trying to help stop a “train wreck” that will be caused by the F.D.A. overreach.
Richard W. Painter, who served as the White House chief ethics lawyer during the George W. Bush administration, said Mr. Perraut’s quick turnabout violated the spirit of President Obama’s ethics pledge, intended to prevent former aides from lobbying the executive branch.

 
Needless to say, I think Perraut is responsible for the train wreck of exploding e-cigarette use among kids and keeping smokers smoking cigarettes.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump should be pressed to make commitments to keep anyone with (any) industry connections out of the OMB.